Great advances have been made in the field of computers and other computer processor-based systems. The computers are able to process data at speeds previously unimaginable. However, one bottleneck remains--the interface between humans and the computer. Humans must enter data or commands in a form that the computer understands and can process.
For many telecommunications equipment, the interface between craft personnel and the equipment is often via command-line entries of keyword-based commands. Typically, the entry of a particular command would trigger the execution of a subroutine or program that would then perform the task indicated by the entered command. Therefore, each command would have its own corresponding program that carries out the command. Whenever there is a change, addition or deletion to any of the commands and/or associated parameters, large chunks of software code has to be modified, added or deleted. The interface program then has to be recompiled, linked, and tested. Therefore, any change to the requirements of the commands and parameters and interface formats would require time-consuming and tedious recoding or coding of the software.